Tri-State Tollway

Tri-State Tollway
Tri-State Tollway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by ISTHA
Length:	78 mi (126 km)
Existed:	Mid to late 1950s – present
Component highways:	I-80 from South Holland to Hazel Crest I-294 from South Holland to Northbrook I-94 from Northbrook to Zion
Major junctions
South end:	I-80 / I-94 / I-294 / IL 394 in South Holland
	I-80 to I-57 in Hazel Crest I-55 in Indian Head Park I-88 / IL 110 in Hillside I-290 in Hillside I-190 in Rosemont I-90 in Rosemont I-94 / I-294 in Northbrook
North end:	I-94 / US 41 in Zion
Highway system
Illinois state highway system Illinois Tollway system

The Tri-State Tollway is a U.S. toll road maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) in northeastern Illinois which is considered one of the most heavily traveled highways in the country (according to the IBTTA, the tollway is the nation's 4th busiest toll road). It is actually a combination of three different Interstates:

• Interstate 80 between Interstate 94 at Thornton and Interstate 294 near Hazel Crest
• I-294, which is routed concurrently with I-80 to Hazel Crest, and then turns north to Deerfield
• I-94 north from Deerfield to U.S. Route 41

The segment containing Interstate 294 is 53 miles (85 km) long; in total, the Tri-State Tollway is actually about 78 miles (126 km) long. Only the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway is longer. Despite its name, the Tri-State Tollway does not enter either Indiana or Wisconsin. On the Indiana side, the Tri-State Tollway ends three miles (5 km) away from the Indiana border and continues as the Kingery Expressway; however both the Kingery and the Indiana portion, which was later named the Borman Expressway, were known as the Tri-State Highway before the Tollway was completed. On the Wisconsin side, the toll road ends just before the border at U.S. Route 41 and Russell Road, although ISTHA maintenance continues to the state line.

Features

Northbound Interstate 294 in Alsip, one-half mile south of 127th Street.

• Oases—these oases are a part of the entire tollway system, but the most are on the Tri-State Tollway. They provide food and gas without having to exit the tollway proper. They are built over the road.
• Pay-as-you-go tolling—like all Illinois tollways, rather than getting an entry ticket and paying upon exiting the tollway, drivers pay a flat toll at toll barriers along the main line (every 10 miles (16 km) south of O'Hare Airport). There are also automated toll collection lanes at some exits and entrances.
• Open road tolling—open road tolling allows the automatic collection of tolls via an I-Pass (compatible with E-ZPass), without the need to slow down or stop at a toll booth.
• Thornton Quarry—about 0.75 miles (1.21 km) of the highway crosses a quarry being converted into a large lake for overflow storm water. Currently, the road's elevation over the floor of the quarry is up to 100 feet (30 m) deep on both sides of the highway, making for a unique view.

• No direct interchange with Interstate 57—despite the fact that these two highways cross paths, there has always been room for an interchange to be built, and one is currently being planned by the Illinois Department of Transportation, ISTHA, and others. I-57 and I-355 are the only Chicago area expressways that cannot be directly accessed from the Tri-State Tollway.

Lingo

The Tri-State Tollway near Illinois Route 176 in Libertyville

Portions of the Tri-State Tollway are referred to in somewhat archaic language during traffic reports and casual conversation. The following are the most common, from south to north:

• Thornton Quarry—on I-80/294 just east of Halsted Street, the bridge over the aforementioned Thornton Quarry.
• Mile-Long Bridge—on I-294 between I-55 and La Grange Road, the bridge over the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Des Plaines River, a large portion of the UPS transmodal facility, a few rail lines, and some Commonwealth Edison power lines.
• Grand Avenue Curve—the curve immediately south of the Bensenville Bridge (see below). This portion of the tollway functions as a long S-curve, causing delays due to limited visibility beyond both curves.
• Bensenville Bridge—on I-294 just south of O'Hare, the bridge over the Metra Milwaukee District West line and Mannheim Road (US 12/US 45).

History

Tri-State Tollway in Glenview following late 2000s widening/rebuild, two miles south of Willow Road.

The Tri-State Tollway was built in the mid- to late 1950s as a bypass of Chicago, as the Indiana Toll Road-Chicago Skyway (opened in 1956) ran towards downtown. The first section opened August 28, 1958, running from Wisconsin south to and east along the Edens Spur. The rest of the road, from the Edens Spur south to the Calumet Expressway and Kingery Expressway, opened December 23 of the same year. It was at first marked as U.S. Highway 41 Toll, which continued east on the Kingery Expressway (now I-80/I-94) to Calumet Avenue (US 41) in Hammond, Indiana, and ended at the north end of the Tollway, where it merges with US 41. It was also marked as U.S. Highway 30 Toll between its south end (the Calumet Expressway was U.S. Highway 30 Alternate) and the East–West Tollway. In 1959 the Tollway was designated as parts of I-94 and I-294, and the short concurrency with I-80 was assigned.

In 1998, the authority removed the entire multilane Deerfield Toll Plaza on the Tri-State, then considered one of the worst snags on the tollway system. To make up for the lost tolls, the Tollway Authority built the Huehl Road Toll Plaza on the Edens Spur to charge traffic that followed Interstate 94 into Chicago. In addition, tolls at the Waukegan Toll Plaza were increased, and additional toll plazas built on exits south of Deerfield at Lake-Cook Road, Willow Road and Golf Road (Illinois Route 58). Toll collection facilities were also added to entrance ramps to the northbound Tri-State at those points.

Numerous projects to rebuild and widen the entire Tri-State Tollway were completed by early 2010.

As of December 30, 2009, Clearview Font signage was installed on the Tollway system, and the mileposts of the I-94 portion of the Tri-State Tollway and Edens Spur no longer use the original milepost signage from IL-394 and I-80. Milepost signs north of Lake-Cook Road now use I-94's mileage from south of the Wisconsin state line. Example: I-294 going north has milepost numbers going up to mile 53. I-294 mile 53 becomes I-94 mile 25 going north with the milepost numbers going down. Milepost numbers are now visible every 1/4 mile, as opposed to the previous signage at 1/2 mile intervals.

Exit list

County	Location	Mile	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Cook	South Holland	0.00	0.00		I-80 east / I-94 east – Indiana	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		0.00	0.00		I-94 west / IL 394 south – Chicago, Danville	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1.00	1.61	Chicago Southland Lincoln Oasis
	East Hazel Crest	3.00	4.83		IL 1 (Halsted Street (800 West))
		4.00	6.44		Dixie Highway	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Hazel Crest	5.00	8.05		I-80 west to I-57 – Iowa	Northern terminus of concurrency with I-80
		6.00	9.66	163rd Street Toll Plaza
	Markham	6.50	10.46		US 6 (159th Street)
	Alsip	12.00	19.31		IL 50 (Cicero Avenue (4800 West)) / IL 83 (127th Street)
	Hickory Hills	17.50	28.16		US 12 (95th Street) / US 20 / 76th Avenue
		19.50	31.38	83rd Street Toll Plaza (northbound)
		20.00	32.19	82nd Street Toll Plaza (southbound)
	Justice	21.00	33.80		US 12 / US 20 / US 45 (LaGrange Road) / IL 171 (Archer Avenue)	Southbound entrance only
	Des Plaines River			Mile-Long Bridge
	Hodgkins	22.00	35.41		75th Street, Willow Springs Road (10800 West)
	Indian Head Park	23.00	37.01		I-55 (Stevenson Expressway) – Chicago, St. Louis	No southbound entrance from I-55 south; Joliet Road has an exit on the exit ramp NB on/SB off after the toll plaza
		24.00	38.62		Wolf Road (11200 West)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Hinsdale	25.00	40.23	Hinsdale Oasis
	Western Springs	28.00	45.06		US 34 (Ogden Avenue)
	Hillside	29.00	46.67		I-88 west (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) – Aurora	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		29.50	47.48		Cermak Road, 22nd Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		30.00	48.28	Cermak Road Toll Plaza
		30.50	49.08		IL 38 (Roosevelt Road (1200 South))	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		31.00	49.89		I-88 west (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) – Aurora	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		32.00	51.50		I-290 east (Eisenhower Expressway) – Chicago
	Berkeley	34.00	54.72		I-290 west (Eisenhower Expressway) to US 20 / IL 64 – Rockford
	Franklin Park	38.00	61.16	O'Hare Oasis
		38.50	61.96		IL 19 (Irving Park Road (4000 North))	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		39.00	62.76	Irving Park Toll Plaza (southbound)
	Rosemont	40.00	64.37		I-190 west (Kennedy Expressway) / River Road – O'Hare
		41.00	65.98		I-90 (Jane Addams Memorial Tollway, Kennedy Expressway) – Rockford, Chicago
	Park Ridge	42.00	67.59	Touhy Avenue Toll Plaza (northbound)
		42.00	67.59		Touhy Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Des Plaines	44.50	71.62		US 14 (Dempster Street)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		45.00	72.42		IL 58 (Golf Road)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Glenview	49.00	78.86		Willow Road
	Northbrook	25.50	41.04		I-94 east (Edens Expressway via Edens Spur) – Chicago	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; north end of I-294; south end of I-94 overlap
Cook–Lake county line	Northbrook–Deerfield city line	25.00	40.23		Lake–Cook Road
Lake	Deerfield	24.00	38.62		Deerfield Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Lincolnshire	22.00	35.41		IL 22 (Half Day Road)
	Lake Forest	19.00	30.58		IL 60 (Town Line Road)
		18.00	28.97	Lake Forest Oasis
	Libertyville	16.00	25.75		IL 176 (Rockland Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	North Chicago	14.00	22.53		IL 137 (Buckley Road)
	Gurnee	11.00	17.70		IL 120 (Belvidere Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		10.00	16.09		IL 21 (Milwaukee Avenue)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		8.50	13.68		IL 132 (Grand Avenue)
	Wadsworth	5.00	8.05	Waukegan Toll Plaza
	Zion	2.50	4.02	2	IL 173 (Rosecrans Road)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		0.96	1.54	1B	US 41 south – Waukegan	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; last exit southbound before tolls
		0.20	0.32	1A	Russell Road	Signed as exit 1 northbound
		0.00	0.00		I-94 west / US 41 north – Milwaukee
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Edens Spur

Edens Spur
Location:	Northbrook
Length:	5 mi (8 km)

The Edens Spur is a five-mile (8.0 km) cutover from the Tri-State Tollway to the Edens Expressway. It connects the Interstate 94 portions of the tollway and the Edens Expressway. It is technically a toll road. Northbound traffic on the Edens Expressway has the option of cutting over to the northbound Tri-State Tollway, or remaining on U.S. Highway 41 (Skokie Highway). Southbound traffic on the Tri-State Tollway has the option of cutting over to the southbound Edens Expressway, or remaining on the Tri-State Tollway on the loop Interstate 294. There are no other ways to enter the Edens Spur at the ends. There is one exit eastbound on the Edens Spur at Illinois Route 43 (Waukegan Road). There is also an entrance ramp to the Edens Spur westbound at that point. The spur has one toll barrier, as it is still part of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority system. This toll plaza has been upgraded and now has I-Pass open tolling lanes, which have eliminated most congestion at this toll.

Exit list

The entire route is in Northbrook, Cook County.

Mile	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
25.5	41.0	12	I-94 west (Tri-State Tollway) – Milwaukee	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
26.5	42.6	Edens Spur Toll Plaza
28	45	13	IL 43 (Waukegan Road)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		—	I-94 east / US 41 south (Edens Expressway) – Chicago	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

• Illinois portal
• U.S. Roads portal

References

• Carlson, Richard (March 22, 2008). "Illinois Tollways". Illinois Highways Page. Self-published. 
• McClendon, Dennis. "Re: [CHICAGOTRANSIT] Expressway openings". Yahoo! Groups: CHICAGOTRANSIT. Self-published.  (registration required)

External links

Template:Attached_KML/Tri-State Tollway

• Illinois Tollway official site
  • System Map
  • Entrance and Exit Information
• Historic, Current & Average Travel Times For The Tristate Tollway
• Illinois Highways Page (Rich Carlson)